WELCOME TO YOUR SET OF BUSINESS ASSESSMENT & IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

We all need to spend more time proactively working ON our business… But where should we start? And how do we go about actually doing tasks that’ll directly lead to better connections with our customers, make our team more effective, and increase our profits?

Our complete set of Business Assessments and Management Implementation Tools is an excellent place to start. These tools and templates gently ask the tough questions and guide you to making wise decisions and taking more effective action in the key areas of management, marketing, creating compelling customer value, attracting and keeping great staff and improving your bottom line.

Below is a complete list of the Tools and Templates and a brief description of how each will be helpful. They are divided into two sections. Part #1: Business Assessment Tools and Part #2: Management Implementation Tools.

PART #1: YOUR BUSINESS ASSESSMENT TOOLS

TOOL A1 | THE BUSINESS KEY CHALLENGE AUDIT

In just 4 minutes, identify the key challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed in your business. Have each person on your management and supervisory team complete this sheet and see if everyone on your team is on the same page.

TOOL A2 | THE SERVICE CHALLENGE AUDIT

Failure to deliver world class service and customer experiences on the front line is almost always a symptom of management, communication, systems or process problems in the business. Use this Service Challenge Audit to identify and address problems in how your front line interacts with customers.

TOOL A4 | ASSESSING WHAT IS + ISN’T WORKING IN YOUR BUSINESS

This tool generates invaluable insights for business owners in the form of reality checks around 18 key management and marketing questions. The answers you come up with for each of them will give clarity around where you need to be working on your business.

TOOL A5 | MAPPING FOR DISRUPTION AND INNOVATION IN YOUR MARKET

Every industry is being disrupted by new technologies, new business models and innovative thinking. Use this Tool to evaluate the many ways that your industry and your business might be disrupted so you can map a plan for how you'll become the disruptor, rather than the victim of other's innovative actions.

Technology can give you a competitive and profitability advantage in every part of your business. Use this check-list to determine exactly where your brand could benefit more from a savvier use of technologies already at its disposal.

TOOL A7 | MAPPING YOUR CUSTOMERs' PERCEPTIONS

This Tool is a reality check to help you and your team hone in on the strength and clarity of your market positioning. It’s a critical exercise for understanding that your perception of your customers and your business might not line up with how your brand in seen from the outside in.

TOOL A8 | DEFINING SUCCESS IN YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR LIFE

If we can’t define success how will we ever achieve it? Use this template to clarify what success will look like for you, your family and your team so everyone knows what we’re aiming for - and why it’s important. This tool includes a question sheet for each important person in your life and business.

TOOL A9 | RATE YOUR LEADERSHIP ABILITY

This Tool will help you clarify and improve your leadership style and effectiveness. It explores the top 10 things that great coaches do, and helps you score your leadership qualities so you'll have a metric against which to judge the improvements you'll make from today.

TOOL A10 | RATE YOUR TRUST INTUITION

In business and life, trusting the right people is key to your success. Use this simple Trust Meter score card to check whether you're an effective judge of character in your business. Do your team members deserve the level of trust you've instinctively placed in them? The results might surprise you!

TOOL A11 | PARTNERSHIP AND FAMILY BUSINESS AUDIT

There are 6 reasons why partnerships or family businesses often don’t work. This Tool will help identify the problem areas that need to be addressed to strengthen business partnerships... Or create a sensible blueprint for dissolving them.

TOOL A12 | FRONT LINE ASSESSMENT TOOL

What happens on your front line - where customer interaction primarily takes place - has a huge impact on your bottom line. When things go wrong on the front line, it’s almost always a symptom of problems further up in your organisation. This Tool assesses how effectively your front liners are working and provides a holistic template for improvement.

TOOL A15 | REALITY CHECK YOUR ADVERTISING

Much of the money spent on advertising is simply wasted. Ads that tell an off-message story, are tone-deaf, poorly designed, or are shown in the wrong places can even be brand-destroying. Don’t spend another penny on advertising without checking this Tool first!

TOOL A16 | HAVE YOU CREATED AN EFFECTIVE TEAM CULTURE?

This 10 point Culture Audit will help you and your team determine the health of your business culture, and what particular elements within your culture might need fixing. This Tool gives you a score that you can use as a metric to improve your team culture, starting today.

Part #2: Your Management Implementation Tools

TOOL B1 | HOW TO WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS

In your business, who’s proactively ‘running the show’? Most business owners and managers spend 90% of their time working IN the business and less than 10% of their time proactively working ON it. Use this Tool to get a real game-plan for how to work ON your business.

TOOL B3 | BUSINESS VALUE POSITION WORKSHEET

Every business must decide if it will be the cheapest or not be the cheapest. Why? Because every other decision you make depends on this key value decision. Use this Tool to create clarity about your value position.

TOOL B5 | THE BACKWARDS APPROACH TO PROFITABILITY PLANNING

Your profit is something you plan for, not something you hope for. Use this template to determine how much profit you need to generate to be successful in your business and your life. Once those numbers have been worked out, this Tool helps you plan how to make that happen.

TOOL B7 | 12 ways to boost prifitability

These 12 questions look at every part of your business to trigger insights that will help you create your most successful year ever. Use this worksheet each year as part of your regular business planning process.

TOOL B8 | The BUSINESS SALEABility CHECKLIST

In just 2 minutes, learn why your business may not be saleable… And how you can fix that. After all, why put in all the effort to build a business if you don't do it in a way that will pay you out at the end?

TOOL B10 | BECOMING THE WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR target CUSTOMERS

People are loyal to what’s best for them, or to what they assume is best for them. This Tool asks, “Are we the wise choice for our target customers?" and walks you through the steps to fix what you offer, and adjust your messaging to better connect.

TOOL B11 | HOW to MAKE YOUR BRAND FAMOUS

If you’re not famous for something, then you’re selling an undifferentiated commodity, and that's a tough way to do business. So, what are you famous for? Or what could you be famous for? Use this Template to determine what famous could look like in your business and how to achieve it.

TOOL B12 | CLARIFYING YOUR BRAND

Businesses with a powerful brand typically have more loyal customers and higher profits. Use this Tool to define and strengthen your brand, so your can best communicate the valuable things you do to the people who want to buy from you.

TOOL B13 | THE CUSTOMER COMMITMENTS BLUEPRINT

To succeed in this highly competitive world, you need to be clear and specific about your customer value and customer commitment. Use this Template to create the clarity required to be a market leader.

TOOL B14 | WHAT DO YOUR CUSTOMERS REALLY WANT MORE OF?

We’d all like our customers to do more business with us. But what are you prepared to do more of to earn that additional business? Here’s an insightful exercise that will identify specific things to do more of, or to do better, to increase sales, and boost profitability.

TOOL B19 | ATTRACTING AND RETAINING A TOP-PERFORMING TEAM

TOOL B20 | INTERVIEW QUESTION GENERATOR + EVALUATION TEMPLATE

This Tool will help you interview and evaluate job candidates in a clear and organised way by allowing you to create a Suitability Score for each candidate interviewing for any job. Use it to make finding the right person a more streamlined and logical process.

TOOL B21 | 13 REASONS YOUR STAFF might be UNDERPERFORMING

Staff not performing is one of the biggest problems in most businesses today. Use this Tool to determine why your staff may not be performing… And how to change that.

TOOL B22 | 16 WAYS TO HELP YOUR STAFF FEEL IMPORTANT & BE MORE ENGAGED

Use this Tool to learn 16 specific things you can do to help your employees understand that they’re important. Master these and your team will be more engaged, productive, and positive. Doesn’t that sound like people you’d like to go to work with?

TOOL B23 | TAKE YOUR TEAM’S SKILLS INVENTORY

Use this tool to discover the many skills, talents and abilities your staff have that maybe you didn’t even know about. This can be a real eye-opener! And, importantly, it can reveal where the most crippling skills gaps are that could be hurting your bottom line.

TOOL B24 | THE EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE SURVEY

Tool B25 | The math of selling your business for the price you need to have the NEXT CHAPTER you want

Use this Tool to calculate how much money you need to get when you sell your business to have the next chapter you want… And to think about what needs fixing in your business to ensure you can ultiately get that price.

ABOUT

The Spring Collective is led by Catherine Roberts. We teach small business owners on a budget how to find and connect with more of the people who want to buy what they sell.

The Spring Collective is based in Toronto, Canada.

WANT TO BOOST YOUR INCOME WITH A SIDE HUSTLE?

OR MAKE THE RIGHT MOVES TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR EXISTING SMALL BUSINESS?

Want to find out more? Download my FREE guide to Establishing An Online Store to learn:

How to identify and connect with your target customers;

Which e-commerce platform, stock management, and shipping options will best for your business;

The design cues that build trust and encourage sales online;

Creative strategies for marketing your online store on a budget;

Five metrics you should track to assess the success of your business, and shopfront tweaks you can use to improve each one.